The Film:
3
Excerpting Mike LaSalle in his SF Chronicle review,
he writes:
'The funniest thing in "Fool's Gold" wasn't intended
to be funny. It comes a third of the way in, and
it's the scene in which Matthew McConaughey and Kate
Hudson tell about the shipwreck of a
treasure-bearing Spanish vessel hundreds of years
ago. This is the scene in which they, more or less,
give you the story - the story that's supposed to
fascinate and enthrall you. But the story they tell
is so intricate, so convoluted and so full of
various character names that it becomes impossible
to follow.'

But then why should they have it any easier than the
audience? "Fool's Gold" is a romantic comedy and an
adventure story, but in this case that just means it
bombs in two distinct ways. It presents us with a
photogenic but estranged couple and invites us to
want them to get back together. And it shows the two
of them collaborating in the search for ancient
treasure. But from the opening credits to the
unsatisfying finish, it remains a matter of profound
indifference whether these people ever find love or
wealth. Good for them if they do, but it would be no
more pleasing than reading about strangers winning
the lottery.

McConaughey is a charismatic actor, but in "Fool's
Gold" he plays a total washout, with big plans and a
line of patter, but nothing much going for him.
Essentially, he's the comic character, but he's much
better at reacting than being zany, while Hudson
spends most of the movie looking worried, when she's
potentially the more bubbly and skilled comic
personality.

Image:
7/8.5
(I've begun to use a new scoring system for the
Image in order to have the first number rationalize
with the other scores.) The first number indicates a
relative level of excellence compared to other
Blu-ray DVDs on a ten-point scale. The second
number, also on a ten-point scale, places this image
along the full range of DVDs, including SD 480i.

Fool's Gold runs the gamut of locations: above and
below the coastal waters of Queensland, Australia,
and some at the Bahamas; above and below the decks
of various boats, some of them bloody luxurious;
some nighttime shots and some work in a saloon.
Daytime outdoor shots of Fool's Gold on my front
projection system tend to have a kind of plasma TV
look – like the color is set to Vivid. I thought the
image probably reflected the intentions of the
cinematographer: more like a Pepsi commercial than a
realistic movie. While the outdoor shots of boats,
water, babes and hunks all had plenty of snap, I
imagine if you were looking at this movie on a
typical plasma, it might feel like too much of a
good thing. Interior shots were occasionally murky
as if to suggest cigarette smoke or fog without
actually being either.

Audio & Music:
7/7
The audio here is your basic 5.1: unremarkable, but
satisfactory. Considering the intent – meaning that
Fool's Gold is neither much of as thriller nor a
drama, I didn't feel that I was missing much. I
would have enjoyed the improved clarity of an
uncompressed mix for underwater sounds and boat
noises but, as I say, the audio is satisfactory, but
unremarkable.

Operations:
8
As usual, Warner separates itself from those
self-promoting DVD studios with their endless
"Coming on Blu-ray" previews requiring endless
clicking to get to the business at hand. Not so,
Warner! As for the menu operations, there are no
tricks, nor particularly creative solutions to get
from here to there. We can return to the main menu
from a bonus feature with ease.

Extras:
5
Two mercifully brief extras hardly add up to what is
implied by either "features" or "bonus." Together,
they total a mere six and a quarter minutes. One of
them, titled "Gag Reels" distances itself so much
from the events in question, they appear more like
candid shots taken by a passerby. The other, which
purports to extol the chemistry between Hudson and
McConaughey, might best have been described by Peter
Travers in his review of the movie itself: " For the
record, you're more likely to discover treasure
under your multiplex seat than detect any chemistry
between McConaughey and Hudson
HERE. Same could be said for "Flirting with
Adventure."

Bottom line:
3
Some lightweight romantic comedies rise to the level
of "harmless" if we do not feel our time has
actually been squandered, let alone the price of a
ticket or a rental. Fool's Gold is not one of them:
for be warned, it is aptly named - pretty, even
dazzling at times (McConaughey and the scenery, at
any rate), but about the worth of a chunk of pyrite.